Snapshots
by sibbytora
Summary: A series of short snapshots in the lives of some of the characters from X-men Evolution: Captain America and Wolverine; Spyke Vs The Danger Room; Kitty; and Lance.
1. Captain America

The bar was crowded with off duty soldiers. They stank of stale beer and talked too loudly about things better left private. Drunken laughter filled the air. As Logan stared around, he wished he could drown out his sorrows with alcohol, like these men could. He had to live with his.

Sighing, he sat down at a secluded table with his friend, Steve Rogers. Even an outsider could see the tension between the two. While other men celebrated that the war looked like it was finally coming to an end, Logan and Rogers sat, gazing at nothing; one sitting up straight and tense, the other leaning forward with his head in his hands. The barman, a kind hearted fellow, came over and quietly placed two glasses of beer on the table in front of them, muttering "on the house". This seemed to wake Logan from his reverie. He sat up and tried to look Rogers in the eye. Rogers avoided his gaze.

"Steve." No answer. "Cap'." Logan tried again. "Steve, I heard a rumour you were leaving. Is it true?"

Finally, Rogers answered. "I'm going this evening. With a friend of mine." Logan waved a hand dismissively "I read the file Rogers. The odds don't look good."

The blond man smiled, thinly "The odds never look good."

"But even for you Cap'!" Logan leaned forward "Let me come with you, I can help-"

He was cut off "Logan. You've got to stay here. I need someone to watch the end of the war for me." Again, he smiled, but his eyes were sad. Rogers would miss his friend's bluntness, his loyalty and also his understanding. There were not many people who could truly comprehend what it was like to be... different. Most people just saw the advantages. Logan saw, no, Logan knew and experienced the disadvantages.

Logan started again "Steve, you're ill. I saw you the other day. Are you really up to doing a big mission like this?"

"Yes." Rogers' face had closed in now. Logan sat back, realising it was no use. He swilled his drink around in the chipped glass.

They sat in silence for a while. Then Rogers glanced at the dilapidated clock on the wall. "I should go. There's a briefing." Logan nodded dumbly. Pushing his chair back, Rogers stood up, his friend following suit. Awkwardly, they shook hands. Logan looked up at his companion.

"Stay safe." Rogers nodded once and turned to go. Logan stood for a while, watching Captain America's departure, then sat back down at the table. "Stay safe."


	2. Pryde and Pessimism

After living at the Xavier Mansion for a while, new recruits quickly learn all the quirks of the members of the community. For example if Rogue was sitting by herself in the gardens, you approached her on pain of death. Rogue valued her lone-time highly, as any intruder promptly found out. Similarly, while most of the X-men wandered freely into each other's rooms, they'd never knock on Logan's bedroom door asking if he had "any paper because Amara accidentally burnt all mine". Never. In this way, the whole mansion knew when Kitty had an argument with Lance.

On this particular day, it was Rogue who noticed first that something was up. On the way home from school, rather than chatting inanely about how so-and-so was dating this-or-that, Kitty had shoved the headphones of her MP3 in her ears and stalked off, without a word to her room-mate. Rogue prepared herself for a long night.

The other students were given an even less friendly clue to the state of Miss Pryde's love life. The new mutants were, as always, breaking things. Today, they were breaking the entry hall. As Kitty, closely followed by Rogue (who was trying to warn the others with looks of increasing desperation) entered the Mansion, Bobby was icing the stairway, while Amara was simultaneously trying to melt it. Jubilee and Cannonball were play-fighting; at this moment in time Cannonball was head first in the wall, while the Chinese girl laughed heartily at him. Jamies were running everywhere. And then they froze. For, too late, they noticed Kitty.

"Will you guys, like, for once grow up? You're X-men, not, like, stupid babies!" Kitty wasn't angry very often, and wasn't very good at expressing it. However, everyone caught her meaning and stopped what they were doing. Kitty glared at them, and threw her heavy school bag at Bobby, running up the stairs (carefully phasing through the ice). Everyone stared at each other.

Once she was out of earshot Bobby muttered "She's had another argument with Lance? This is the third time in two weeks!"

"Shuddup Bobby" growled Rogue. She followed her friend up stairs, cautiously placing her feet on the parts of the steps which weren't slippery.

Kitty was sitting on her bed, a mournful look on her face. She glanced up as Rogue entered.

"What was it this time?" asked Rogue, as gently as she could.

"I don't know," sighed Kitty "I went over to say hi, like I always do, and he just like, totally ignored me." A small tear ran down her cheek. Rogue went over and put her arm around the valley girl's shoulders.

"Don't worry sugah, tomorrow it'll be like nothing happened." Inwardly she added _it always is_.

"No," murmured Kitty "I don't think it will be." She looked so sad that Rogue didn't chastise her for her pessimism.

"And why d'ya think that?"

"It's like that song." Rogue blinked.

"What song?"

"You know. That song. The one I like, always used to sing. It went like-" Kitty suddenly stopped. "Rogue, I totally can't remember how it went!" The valley girl looked up at Rogue in despair.

Rogue sighed. It was going to be a long night.


	3. Lance: Failure

As Lance left school, he sighed. The other kids were running around, shouting to each other about nothing. They pushed past him in the crowded corridor, otherwise completely ignoring his entire existence. He sometimes wondered what they'd do if they knew mutants existed. The kids and the teachers were all the same – they underestimated him. To them, he was just another teen in a large school. They didn't know what he, Lance Alvers, could do.

Life hadn't been particularly kind to Lance. Even to him, his past as a series of failed attempts to make people understand that _he_ was worth knowing. His father had given up on him quite early on, returning to his home town in Greece to start an entire new family.

Still, Lance had been okay. He started working hard in school, so that he could look after his mother when he grew up. His grand plan was unsuccessful however. When his report came back, he found that, no matter how hard he tried, his scores were no more than average. After that, he gave up on school. There were other, better ways to get on in the world.

So, he started to learn the guitar. As a rock star, people would respect him for his musicality and love him for his dangerous stage persona. He would have expensive cars, large houses and girls queueing to catch a glimpse of him. He wrote songs that expressed his inner torment: songs filled with angst and anger at the world. He found himself caught up with the poetry of it all; the romance. Once he felt he was good enough, he set about trying to find a band. After a few weeks of asking, he abandoned it. No one wanted to join a band with Lance, a misguided misfit, whose songs were both terrifyingly violent and disturbingly sentimental.

But Lance was strong, he'd find another way to survive. However, nature intervened and, aged twelve, his powers surfaced. After the initial shock, Lance was ecstatic. Finally, after all he'd done, he had a skill, a talent, something to make his mom proud of him. He was mistaken. Lance's power terrified her and although she didn't disown him, their relationship was never the same again. She was still living in the valleys somewhere. He had her address somewhere but recently, he hadn't bothered trying phone her or visit her.

Despite everything, Lance was still hopeful. Maybe with the Brotherhood he'd make a name for himself. Maybe he wouldn't be a failure for his whole life.


	4. Spyke Vs The Danger Room

Evan was in the Danger Room, having a one-to-one session with Storm. Evan hated one-to-one sessions. Why? Because if he made a mistake (and, as he said to himself, he was only human after all), there was no one to cover for him. There was no way of hiding the fact that he didn't try as hard as everyone else. Sure, he was good. But, without Scott or Kurt or any of the others... well, he slipped up. Badly. And Auntie O never cut him any slack because he was her nephew. Quite the opposite. Right now, she was being particularly harsh.

"Evan Daniels! How often do I have to tell you how this program works?"

"I know Auntie O. All I need to do is get from one side of the room to the other."

"Then why." said Storm tersely, "have you not progressed at all through the Danger Room after five runs of the program?"

"Well..." began Evan. But Ororo wasn't listening.

"Start again. You have five minutes. Go!"

Evan started running across the room. He knew approximately what was going to happen next. After just a few steps, a massive metal barricade rose in front of him, blocking his path. Raising his arm, Evan released a long bone spike from his forearm and, knowing it was useless, threw it with all his strength at the barrier. He'd tried it every time he'd encountered it and it had never worked. _What would Scott do?_, he wondered.

It was so unfair. It was so bloody unfair. If Storm wasn't his aunt, he wouldn't have to do what she told him. He wanted to be like the others and he hated it that his attention span caused friction between him and the rest of the X-men. But there was nothing he could do about it.

Trying to run around the barricade was useless, it only expanded as he ran. What could he do? He looked desperately around the room for help. Suddenly an idea hit him. Looking down at his forearm, he concentrated. A spike, this time slightly thinner and much longer extended from it. Taking it by one end, he walked back a little distance from the wall. Then, with all the speed he could muster, he dashed towards the metal block. As he drew near, he lifted the spike up and used it as a pole vault to lift himself above the wall. Well, he tried to. After two seconds of gliding triumphantly through the air, his shoulder and head smacked into the wall. Evan slid down it, and hit the floor. Groaning in pain, he looked up. The wall had grown taller as he had neared it. He punched the ground in frustration. It'd been so close!

"Ten seconds left," intoned Storm's voice. Evan just sat there. _What's the use?_ he thought. _I'm not cut out to be an X-man. I never was. Not really._


	5. Year of the Shadowcat

A year ago today, Katherine Pryde became an X-man. The day had sneaked up on her; she'd been busy lately. But here it was.

It was a Saturday and Kitty was having a lie-in. Turning over onto her back, she considered her life as it was now. She couldn't think of any other time when she'd been so happy. Sure, she loved her parents, but back home her power had felt like a curse. Here it was a gift; a talent to be nurtured. Now, she had complete control over her phasing, but when she had first joined the X-men, she had had a few embarrassing hiccups.

In Bayville High School, Kitty had discovered her computing skills. At her old school, the computers had been old and rarely used by the younger students. Bayville High had a very modern computer suite and teachers who were actually trained to used them. However Kitty had quickly found that she outstripped even the head of the IT department when it came to programming. At the Institute, Beast had given her a crash course in hacking (after making her promise that she would _never_, under any circumstances, hack into anywhere without his permission). It was nice to be better than Scott and Jean at something, she mused. Though she could hold her own for a while in fight against either of them, she would eventually be beaten.

That was another thing she'd learnt during her time with the X-men: self defence. These lessons with Logan had shown her that she couldn't always rely on phasing to escape a confrontation. Martial arts was her favourite: often the moves flowed together like a complex, dangerous dance. The others often teased her about her passion for dancing and the weekly lessons she attended at the local sports centre. But, as Logan had pointed out, dancing was a very good way for strengthening the muscles and improving flexibility.

Yes, she'd learnt a lot in the past year. However, that didn't quite explain why she was beginning to think of the mansion as home, rather than her parents' house. When she had came back after the holidays, she had felt a sense of relief. She had missed the others immensely: her new, large, unusual adopted family. The Prof, Storm, Logan and Dr. McCoy were teachers and role models like she'd never had before. Kurt was already like a brother to her, despite her original disgust at his appearance (she felt so guilty about that now... How could she have been so rude?). Scott and Jean were her strict elder siblings. Even annoying little Evan was family.

Sitting up in bed now, she looked at the unconscious form of her room mate and best friend, Rogue. Yes, a lot had changed. In a year, Rogue had gone from a sullen loner to, well... a slightly less sullen loner. Kitty smiled. She and Rogue were complete opposite characters, but they got along really well. Maybe it was because of their opposition: it meant they always had something to talk about.

The more Kitty thought about it, the more she realised that it was the people in her new life that, more than anything, made it better than the old. There was never a dull day at the Institute; there was always someone to talk to, no matter what mood she was in. The X-men had made every minute of her year with them worthwhile and she loved them all for that.


End file.
